Page 49 of Beautifully Scarred Omega

She moves along the baseboards now, the detector emitting a soft electronic hum.

“You look like you’ve done this before,” I say, watching her work.

“I have.” She doesn’t look up. “Many, many times.”

“What kind of assignments do you usually do?”

She stops what she’s doing and turns to look at me.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Brooks, that’s not something I can talk about.”

“Ethan,” I say. “Just call me Ethan.”

She holds my gaze for a long moment, like using first names is something she usually doesn’t do during assignments. Then she shrugs and turns back to her work.

I watch in silence as she finishes sweeping the room. When she reaches for a smaller device on the table, some kind of spectrum analyzer from the look of it, I pick it up and hand it to her before she can stretch.

She blinks, surprised, but takes it without comment.

After that, we fall into a rhythm. She works, I assist, handing her equipment and moving furniture when she needs to check behind something.

“This room is clean,” she says finally, powering down the detector. “No bugs.”

“Thank God.” I straighten up, stretching the kink out of my back. “Three more conference rooms up here, then Max’s office and Finn’s.”

“And the main corridor.” She’s already packing up her equipment. “Let’s keep moving.”

We walk to the next conference room, and I hold the door open for her.

“So,” I say, handing her the detector as she begins her sweep, “I’m curious, Sophie. What do you think about our business?”

She shoots me a look that is very clearly annoyed.

“I don’t have an opinion.”

“What if you had to have one? Hypothetically.”

She looks like she’s about to shut me down.

But instead, she just sighs.

“It’s a bit excessive, don’t you think?” She gestures vaguely at the room around us. “All of this... for what? To produce sex toys? To cater to alphas’ and omegas’ libidos?” She shakes her head. “Seems like a lot of resources for something so frivolous.”

I stare at her.

She’s dead serious.

I can’t help it. I start laughing.

Sophie’s eyes narrow. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, nothing.” I hold up my hands, trying to compose myself. “It’s just... I’ve never heard someone put it quite like that before.”

She scowls at me, clearly not seeing the humor. “I wasn’t joking.”

“I know you weren’t—” I take a breath, still grinning. “You do have a point. From the outside, I can see how it might look indulgent.”

“Indulgent is one word for it.”